


The Power of Words

by LostCauses (Anteros)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, canonverse, eruri - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:19:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5992969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anteros/pseuds/LostCauses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin had always been good with words, but when it came to Levi words failed him.  Levi demanded the truth, but Erwin, who could order a hundred men to their deaths, didn't have the courage to force that tiny word of truth past his lips until it was almost too late. </p><p>Levi is a man of few words, but he never fails to get his point across. Often he doesn’t need words at all. A glance, a frown, a tilt of his head is enough to have the men scurrying into action or the Commander dropping to his knees.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“You think you can charm the birds from the trees don’t you?” 

The training instructor sneered as he relegated Erwin to slop duty for trying to talk himself and Mike out of trouble for the third time that week. He failed, but he took the lesson to heart. Erwin was a studious trainee, he applied himself diligently, learned from his failures, learned to play to his strengths. 

Erwin learned the power of words early and was not afraid to use them. Half truths and hollow platitudes, blatant flattery and subtle blandishments were all weapons in his formidable arsenal. Erwin learned how to ingratiate himself with his commanders, learned how to ignite the hearts of trainees, how to make and break men with his words, how to convince them to walk willingly into the mouths of titans, fists proudly clenched. He learned how to charm another expedition, another month’s rations, horses, steel, medical supplies, from noblemen and politicians, or more often than not, their wives. 

Women hung on Erwin’s words. 

“Talk to me.” Marie would plead.

“What do you want to talk about?” he would ask.

“I don’t want to talk, I just want to listen. Please darling.” 

So he would talk, fingers tracing lazy patterns up and down her back as she sighed beneath his touch, beneath his words. 

Years later, Nile was still complaining that Marie always wanted him to talk to her. 

“I mean, what the fuck is that about?” 

Erwin just shrugged. Words came naturally to him.

But words had failed Erwin when it came to Levi. 

Levi had tied his tongue, stopped his voice in his throat, driven the clever words from his head. Levi struck him dumb and left him desperate. He was deserving only of the truth. Demanded it. Naked and unadorned. 

_“Don’t bullshit me Erwin Smith.”_

But Erwin didn’t have the courage to face the truth. Erwin who could issue the orders that would send ten, twenty, a hundred men to their deaths, could not bring himself to force that tiny word of truth past his clenched teeth until it was almost too late. 

Almost. 

They were standing atop the Shinganshina wall when the word finally slipped past his lips, a split second before Levi jumped. Erwin often wonders if he heard. Wonders what might have happened if he’d found his courage sooner.

* * *

“Levi, did you hear me?”

“Hmn? What?” Levi grunts into the pillow beside him.

“When we were on top of the wall in Shiganshina.”

“What the fuck are you talking about Erwin?” 

Levi turns over, nestles in against Erwin’s side, still more than half asleep.

“Just before you jumped. I told you I loved you. I’ve always wondered if you heard.”

Erwin’s hand finds it’s way into Levi’s hair, dark strands shot with silver running through his fingers.

“Why are you asking now? That was years ago.” 

“I don’t know.” 

Erwin shrugs and Levi’s head bobs on his shoulder. 

“Tch. Of course I heard. I heard you long before then.”

“But I never…”

“Dumbass. You didn’t have to.” 

Levi’s hand reaches up to his cheek, thumb skimming lightly over this lips.

Erwin opens his mouth, but before he can speak, Levi is kissing him and even now, after all this time, it still takes his breath away. That against all the odds, Levi is right here, and he’s warm and he’s alive, and he’s everything. 

“See?” Levi pulls back, a lazy smile curling at his lips. “Sometimes you don’t need words.”


	2. A Man of Few Words

Levi is a man of few words, most of them shitty. He doesn’t do small talk, doesn’t do flattery and he calls bullshit where he sees it. 

Levi is a man of few words, but every one of them counts. His words may be spare and they may be blunt but they carry weight and they carry insight. People who respect Levi quickly learn to listen. The soldiers know that listening to the Captain will keep them alive beyond the walls, that a single word can be the difference between life and death. A foul mouthed tirade will have them cursing under their breath, but determined to do better. A single word of hard won praise and they glow with pride. 

Levi is a man of few words, but he never fails to get his point across. Often he doesn’t need words at all. A glance, a frown, a tilt of his head is enough to have the men scurrying into action or the Commander dropping to his knees.

Levi is a man of few words, but his actions speak volumes. The Commander knows this better than most. When he returns from an expedition to chalk off the names of the fallen, when the weight of the dead hangs heavy on his shoulders, when he is forced to confront yet another failure, when his eyes are so clouded he can no longer see, Erwin learns to love Levi for his silence. He doesn’t judge, doesn’t sympathise, doesn’t tell Erwin it will be all right. When did Levi ever lie to shield anyone from the truth? Levi is just there, a strong constant presence, a hand on his shoulder, a warm body next to him, and that means more to Erwin than he can put into words.

But sometimes in the darkness, in the dead of night, when Erwin’s breath evens out into sleep, Levi speaks. His voice is soft, low, barely a whisper, as the words tumble out, tripping over each other, open, honest, unschooled, unguarded. In the darkness Levi gives voice to everything he fears, everyone he loves. Erwin lies beside him, still and silent. He hears every one of Levi’s words, gathering them into himself, an incomparable gift, a reminder of what he is fighting for, of what he himself has lost.


End file.
